07
Oct, 2007

reunion weekend

ok, before i go into any details about the reunion, i just had to show you this pink pearl apple that i ate on my way out of town.  just look at the color of the inside of that thing!

now, on to the reunion.  we drove down with friends.  there’s a bunch of us here in town from the same graduating class, so several of us caravaned together.  the funny part was that the rest of our friends also randomly met up with us at one of the rest stops!  we pulled into town late at night, noticing all of the businesses that had changed in town, and all of those that had stayed the same.  then, we fell onto our air mattress for a night of sleep.

the next morning, we ate amazing, huge cinnamon rolls from the local favorite coffee shop (cream cheese frosting–mmmmm….) and headed over to the official “reunion” portion of the weekend.  how nice to see so many friends that we haven’t seen for such a long time!  everyone looks (and acts) pretty much the same as they did in college, but now they’re mostly married, and most of them have kids.  in a room with only about 30 fellow graduates, there were 6 or 7 who were expecting in the next nine months and at least two more who had had a child within the last 4 months!  here are a few of the cuties:

i don’t have room to put up pictures of all of the kids (a real shame!) — why didn’t we get a group baby shot?  oh well.

after the official reunion, we spent some time on campus, then went to “memories of china” for lunch.  my very favorite chinese restaurant.  i’d heard that it changed owners and that the food wasn’t as good anymore, but i couldn’t tell a significant difference–it was still delicious!  yum, yum for eggrolls, hot and sour soup and sweet and sour chicken!  also enjoyed the company of one of my dearest college friends.  i’ve been so lucky to be able to visit with her four times this year! (we live very far apart and sometimes go for a year or more without being able to see each other.)

after lunch, we visited a few favorite spots around town–the library where i used to work, and the house where i lived for three years.  the library looks mostly the same, but they’ve re-vamped the layout of the children’s area downstairs.  it looks nice!  much more open and better sight lines.  they also finally hired a new head of children’s services!  (they’ve been without one for quite some time now.)  she happened to be there and i got to chat with her for a few minutes.  i also got to chat with a few old co-workers of mine.  nice to reminisce, but i’m glad i am where i am.  at the old house, we’d noticed that there was new vinyl siding on the exterior which looked very nice, and we were curious to know if they’d done any improvements on the inside.  we stopped by and there are still students living in the house who were nice enough to let us poke our noses into the house and check it out.  no real interior updates.  in fact, the paint job and new kitchen contact paper that i’d added when i lived there (7 or 8 years ago) are…. still there.  a bit worse for the wear, but no one’s felt led to change them yet and they (even shabby) are an improvement over the country blue ducks and hearts that they replaced.

back on campus, we looked into a few buildings and noticed changes (some so drastic as to be disorienting (was this our room, or was ours next door?), some, just minor rearranging) and similarities (hmm…. all of these staff people look the same….) then headed over to hang out at the new coffee shop.  there, we met up with friends and chatted until it was time for dinner and afterwards, headed over to one local friend’s house who’d generously offered to host us.  we had lots of fun, catching up and getting to know all of the new kids and spouses.  we shared new stories and old memories.  everyone was loathe to leave, but we eventually wandered away, reluctantly saying goodnight.

this morning, mr. happy stuff wasn’t feeling well, so we just hung out at the house, relaxing and making travel plans for the way home.  we caught a ride with a different set of friends than we’d traveled down with.  they ended up wanting to visit some old friends (that happen to also be good friends and relatives of me) so we all spent some time with them before we left town.  here’s a pictures of j.g. being silly with my young friend (who repeated this same trick later in the car):

on the way home, we stopped at a rest area and when we got out of the car, we heard a giant flock of birds in the trees.  it was twilight, so photography wasn’t easy, but i’ll leave you with this nice, peaceful silhouette shot of two of the birds in a tree.  can you see the birds?

Posted in trip down memory lane | 1 Comment
29
Sep, 2007

bike the barns

whew! we just got back from a 64 mile bike ride that was both grueling and great. it was a benefit ride for macsac, but i somehow missed the “you should try to get people to pledge money” part of the sign-up info and just paid my registration fee (sorry. if i do it again next year, i’ll do better, i promise!). basically, we rode bikes around the area, visiting 4 different community supported agriculture farms and eating amazing food at each one. we started the morning at troy gardens on the north side of town and enjoyed a warm, wheat roll, an apple and a delicious apple croissant (sorry, i ate that one before i could take a picture of it. too yummy. too early in the morning.).

next, we rode about 18 miles to the “dreamfarm” which has chickens and several kinds of goats. at this first stop, we enjoyed goat cheese (four different kinds–my favorite was probably garlic dill… or maybe herbes de provence) and locally made crackers.


we also got to visit the goats and chickens. check out this super-goat with four horns! (he followed people around like a dog, begging to be petted. so cute! …. for a four-horned goat, anyway.)

after a relaxed visit at dreamfarm, we hopped back on the bikes for about another 10 mile ride to lunch at vermont valley farm. wow. check out this lunch:

isn’t it beautiful? let me walk you through it. there’s a salad made with fresh greens and a vinaigrette dressing, beets, roasted squash (several varieties), homemade sauerkraut, brisket with potatoes, a slice of fresh bread and an apple + butter = goodness dessert. plus, i also picked up an apple and a hard-boiled egg. everything was superb. i was also very impressed that they served the meal on real plates (not disposable) and the plastic fork and knife that we used were recycled afterwards.

next, the big haul. some truly challenging hills lay in the next 17 miles after lunch. ow. ow. ow. but i (stubborn as always) stayed on my bike and didn’t walk up any hills. i also tried to focus on the other fun things we were biking past. like giant fuzzy black caterpillars that reminded me of bert’s eyebrows. and a farm with llamas (one was posing near the fence, but, sadly, i didn’t take the time to photograph him) and a few cows that were actually wearing cowbells! (ding, ding) a fellow rider who was wearing plaid suspenders, socks with sandals and whistling a pleasant tune as he rode past me. (yes, i am slow.) another fellow rider who passed me just at the top of a very loooooong hillclimb who leaned over to me and said, “good job!” and then, finally, thankfully, we arrived at the fourth farm. i first visited the “harley garden”–a shed where they had a bathroom that they opened up to riders that also housed 6 motorcycles and a tiny, toddler-sized motorcycle–with a motor! then, enjoyed a glass of passion-fruit lemonade (the other option was concord grape juice. it was a hard decision!) and four chocolates from gail ambrosius.

(the four chocolates… minus the one i already ate…)
mr. happy stuff and i agreed that this was just exactly the right “snack” for a stop in this portion of the ride. in fact, we were both impressed wtih the food, and the appropriateness of the food, at all of the stops. and look! they didn’t use plastic cups at this stop either! the rest of the ride was mostly downhill and through town and although we are both exhausted and sore, we both hope to repeat this ride next year!

Posted in autumn, sporty stuff, yum | 3 Comments
28
Sep, 2007

restaurant review: fork & spoon cafe

i didn’t take any photos at dinner tonight, so here’s a pretty picture from my house to entertain you while i tell you about the fork and spoon cafe.  we decided to have some pasta tonight and mr. h-s suggested that we try out a restaurant new to us.  it’s been around for a while, but we just hadn’t gotten over there yet.  i think  that we’ll have to go again sometime!

i started out with the salad from the specials of the day — it was based on a bed of fresh spinach, then topped with sunflower sprouts, sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, siberian kiwi (!) and topped with a yummy balsamic vinaigrette.  it was delicious.  siberian kiwis are a bizarre little fruit i’d never heard of before tonight.  they are only about as big as an olive, but the insides look like tiny kiwis, and the skins are smooth (not hairy).  yum, yum, yum.  great combo of flavors.

for my dinner, i ordered four cheese ravioli with marinara.  the sauce (which was laid on pretty thickly) was a bit too strong for me.  it tasted like it’d been stewing long enough to be on the edge of carmelization and was just… not my favorite.  mr. h-s got pasta bolognese.  it was much milder than my dinner.  the description on the menu said that it was a tomato cream sauce (which had scared me off because i thought it would be too thick and creamy) but it was actually just a thin sauce–much milder than mine.  both of our dinners also came with a generous slab of garlicky focaccia.  i was impressed that the portions were actually right-sized.  i could finish the whole meal and feel not-too-full, but perfectly satisfied.  and the prices were appropriate for the sizes of dinner (i didn’t feel guilty for not bringing half of it home to make two meals from it.)
still…. i couldnt’ resist dessert.  i chose the panna cotta.  it’s a custardy dessert that was described as being on a layer of raspberry coulis with mango and blueberry.  there was a distinct lack of mango and blueberry, but despite that, the dessert was really delicious.  unusual, not frequently seen on menus (at least around here), and i had to seriously fight the urge to lick the plate.

i think next time i’ll try the mac & cheese.

:) :) :)

Posted in reviews, yum | 1 Comment
28
Sep, 2007

free cookie friday

i spent the entire day reading and writing at the macha teahouse today.  apparently, it was free cookie friday (i think every friday is free cookie friday, actually) so i got a free plate of cookies with my tea.  delightful!

i took a few photography breaks.  here was a small view of my lunch:

and here’s my afternoon iced tea:

but i’m sure you’re tired of hearing about this teahouse after all, so … i’ll sign off of this post and write a review of another new place i visited today! (see the next post above)

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment
24
Sep, 2007

pretty stripey plants

i was taking these pictures the other morning when a neighbor i’d never met before stopped walking by and asked if i’d ever been to the “allen gardens.” then she proceeded to tell me about how awesomely beautiful the allen gardens are and how i should really take pictures there. maybe i will, but in the meantime, here are a few pictures from my own gardens. i love the texture of these leaves. and this curly one just makes me happy to look at.

Posted in photography, summer | 1 Comment
24
Sep, 2007

canning

i canned four more small jars of rhubarb sauce yesterday. there is no more satisfying sound than the metallic “thok” of a canning jar sealing as it cools. this sauce will taste great with yogurt or ice cream in the middle of winter. i now have a total of 8 jars… maybe enough to share at christmas? any takers? i’ll trade for canned peaches!

Posted in yum | 1 Comment
19
Sep, 2007

best way to spend a morning

i confess. i have a new obsession. today was the third time (in less than a month!) that i visited the ma-cha teahouse. i had a bunch of writing that i wanted to get done and i know that if i try to do it at home that i’ll spend all morning putzing around the house and suddenly it will be one o’clock and i’ll have nothing done. so, i packed up my camera and laptop in my snazzy new laptop bag and headed out to ma-cha. today i tried the hot tea for the first time and also visited the moroccan room for the first time.

i spent the first hour there tapping away on my computer, happily sipping tea and fully able to concentrate. when i went for my second pot of tea, i discovered that my pastor (the one i’d first discovered ma-cha with) was studying downstairs! we were the only two people in the place–what a bizarre coincidence! along with the second pot of tea, i also got a small plate with three cookies (mmm….. coconut macaroon, orange ricotta and a checkerboard cookie). since i was taking a little break anyway, i thought i’d take a few pictures to show you some cute bits of the teahouse.



hmm… looks like i missed a few photos i wanted to get. guess i’ll have to go back again soon!

Posted in photography, reviews, stuff that sparks a glow in my soul, yum | 3 Comments
17
Sep, 2007

13 wild turkeys

this morning i went for a run. before i even reached the woodsy area, i saw some largish black shapes scurry across the road. from far away, i couldn’t tell if they were of the furry rodent variety (raccoons or gophers or something not rats) or of the feathery large bird-y variety. sure enough, when i ran past a little later, there were thirteen large wild turkeys pecking around on the mulch piles of my neighbor. that’s a lot of turkeys for an urban neighborhood!

i planned to try a long run, but after i reached the halfway point and stopped quickly for a drink of water and then started back up again, i began feeling sharp shooting pains in my lower hip area which did not go away with stretching. so…. my long run turned into a rather long walk instead. as i was walking, i noticed a beautiful leaf on the ground, so i stopped to pick it up. then i saw another one. and my long walk home turned into a leaf-gathering expedition. not exactly what i’d planned, but pleasant nonetheless.

Posted in autumn, photography, sporty stuff | Comments Off on 13 wild turkeys
16
Sep, 2007

camp-out

i had a great time at camp-out this weekend. i took my camera along and clicked away (hope i wasn’t too annoying…). highlights of the experience were:

hiking with other women and seeing this curly leaf

playing boggle and finding the word “microdot” (and yes it is a word in the scrabble dictionary!)

lavender and teal m&m’s in the trail mix

getting this great shot of mother-daughter eyes (and freckles!)

a long chat with a friend who revealed to me that she lurks on my blog and why she enjoys reading it (thanks!)

the drama of making can-can chili* in a makeshift double boiler for lack of a large, but not-too-large camp-worthy cookpot

singing and stories by the campfire

bizarre hooting of some sort of animal or bird outside our tent in the middle of the night

even more bizarre dreams (something about building a “lifelike” statue of a dragon that was 100 feet tall and needed to be built around the stair railing of the university)

perfect egg and cheese english muffins from the pudgie-pie irons for breakfast

long warm shower after we got home and the wonderful feeling of being clean again.
*a can of this, a can of that

Posted in photography, stuff that makes me smile | 2 Comments
16
Sep, 2007

something new and time to craft

recently, one of the many computers at our house died. it was time to do the technology shuffle* that happens every few years when something kicks the bucket. this time, i was the winner of the shuffle (thanks, mr. happy stuff!) as we both decided that the smartest thing to purchase at this point was a new computer for me. then, we had to decide–laptop or desktop? despite the higher price tag of the laptop, i had been kind of jealous of mr. h-s’s ability to surf the web from anywhere in the house and the portability of his computer (i.e. we’re watching t.v. and i say, “who’s that actor? where have i seen him?” and i wish for a laptop of my own to look it up on. or we’re visiting family and i’d like to show someone the pictures i have stored on my computer at home.) and we just liked the flexibility that a laptop offers. then, mr. h-s was generous enough to do the shopping for me. he asked me a few questions about my preferences (some were easy to answer–“do you have any wish-list items?” “well…. i’ve seen that dell now has computers in cute colors and i’d love to have a brown computer. but that’s kind of silly and probably not worth the money.” “that’s your wish list? what about how fast your computer is or how big the screen is or how high the resolution of the screen is or how much memory it has?” “i just would like to have a brown laptop (unless that’s too exorbitant) that does the same things my computer does now. only maybe a little faster.”) and with that vague description, he was able to locate (and get a good deal on) a beautiful new (brown!) laptop for me.

the brown is a bit more subtle than i’d expected, but i still really like it (it looks black in this picture, doesn’t it? sigh. it’s really brown.).

i got even more excited when i realized that it was so portable that i could take it to the teahouse to do work if i wanted to! but then i realized that if i’m planning to haul it farther than from the office to the kitchen, i would need a laptop bag. oh dear, i thought, now this expensive new toy needs accessories too? mr. happy stuff has a wonderful laptop messenger bag from timbuk2 that is very sturdy and waterproof and has an extra strap that he can buckle around his waist for extra security when he bikes but they are not cheap. plus, everyone in town has one of those bags and while you can choose the colors you want, they still all sort of look the same. so i thought i’d check and see if it was possible to make one or buy a handmade one. first stop, etsy. if you don’t know about etsy and you like funky, handmade goods, check it out. i scrolled through all of the search results for “laptop messenger bag” and found lots of regular old tote bags that said “you can put everything in here–your books, your laptop, your cat…” and some laptop sleeves (just a padded envelope for your laptop so that you can then put it into one of the large tote bags mentioned above without worrying about scratching or smashing it) and some fancy-schmancy laptop briefcases but only one caught my eye and it was … not quite right. so, next stop: craftster. again, if you like to make funky crafts and don’t know about this site, go check it out. there were several tutorials for bags on the site and a few for a laptop bag. so, i took some notes and started planning how i might make my own bag. i was discouraged by my big, busy schedule and was considering buying the etsy one, but then we decided to stay home on friday night (instead of going to church camp-out–we went saturday instead) and suddenly, i had a few extra hours! i went upstairs to dig through my fabric. with only a few hours to work, i chose to limit myself to only the supplies i had on hand (although i do plan to add some velcro later–i was out of it and there’s not really a good substitute for that.) i found great fabric for the body and lining of the bag, buttons and elastic to secure the top of the laptop compartment, but what about solid, secure padding to protect my laptop? well, some of the etsy laptop sleeves had been made from felted wool and… i have tons of that! so i dug through my piles of shrunken sweaters and found a lumpy green one that’s really too bulky to make anything out of and decided that the bulk would actually benefit me in this instance. i spent the evening happily cutting out fabric and designing my bag (freehand. no patterns. i didn’t even use the rotary cutter and mat–lots of slanty lines, but i didnt’ care!) while watching mission impossible 3 with mr. h-s (rather bad movie, but fluffy enough that i could still work while watching.). after the movie was over, i took all my cut pieces upstairs to the craft room and began assembling them into a bag. i got most of the inside of the bag done before it was bedtime and i woke up early saturday morning to finish it. wanna see some pictures?

i am thrilled. i love the fabric, i love the design and it was soooooooo nice to set aside time to craft. i’ve been so busy lately that i’ve been denying myself the pleasure of holing up in my craft room to create something from scratch. i loved that the bag challenged me (hmmm…. how do i put these parts together now?) and i also love that i only had to rip out two or three seams. i haven’t yet given it a test run on my bike, but i think it will do fine. and if it needs some adjustments–i can do that! the final version has a padded pocket with button and elastic closure for my computer, two elastic-topped pockets in the front to hold extra cords and what-not, a flat pocket in the back for files and a series of tiny pockets for credit cards, pencils, cell phone, and a loop for keys (idea stolen from craftster and my good friend, “beans”). it already has some cat fur on it because maryann realized how soft and comfy it was (plus, if there’s anything on the countertop–fabric, book, magazine–she’ll lie on that before she’ll lie on the bare counter). oh well.

no, this will likely not become a regular pidoodle option, but i do like the way the star applique turned out and that might make another appearance.

ok. back to the big giant to-do list.

*not related to the super bowl shuffle. or, my fifth-grade social studies project: “the free enterprise shuffle”

Posted in crafty stuff | 2 Comments